Though this Western Pure Land had been repaired by Saints, it was still scarred beyond recognition. Strange terrain appeared everywhere, and even Lu Tian had to proceed with caution.
After several years of rapid travel, he stopped for the first time.
He chose a secure location, carved out a cave abode, set up an array to conceal himself, and began meditating to recover.
As he entered meditation, his consciousness sank into the Zero World.
What he saw filled him with delight—the Five Great Vajras had already developed intelligence.
The Blue Vajra was even capable of emotion. Feeling lonely, it had actually sacrificed part of its origin to create dozens of small Vajras with two heads and four arms.
Most wonderfully, two of those small Vajras had comprehended yin and yang, completing the first reproduction of life within the Zero World.
The wonder of virtual and real giving rise to one another revealed itself once more: Lu Tian only needed to provide a little guidance, and the world could evolve on its own.
With this discovery, he quietly watched this world grow naturally.
A hundred years later, the Zero World gave birth to a Blue Vajra clansman with one head and two arms.
Lu Tian could clearly feel the Blue Vajra clan's jubilant joy.
At that moment...
Another tangible force of merit flowed back into his body.
After a brief consideration, Lu Tian refined the merit from creating the Vajras together with the merit from the birth of new life.
Rumble!
A tsunami-like roar suddenly erupted within his body!
Vast spiritual energy surged into his body like a raging tide.
The power of merit raced through his meridians, accelerating the absorption of spiritual energy.
Lu Tian could clearly sense his cultivation efficiency soaring geometrically.
Tenfold, a hundredfold, a thousandfold...
It finally stabilized at a three-thousandfold increase!
At that moment, the results of a single breath of cultivation were equivalent to three thousand rounds of breathing exercises from before.
Lu Tian was completely immersed in this state of cultivation, his heart churning with excitement.
This felt so exhilarating. No wonder all living beings sought merit!
He shouted inwardly as he greedily devoured the surrounding spiritual energy.
With sufficient merit to sustain it, at this three-thousandfold efficiency, he would definitely advance to the Taiyi Golden Immortal realm within thirty years.
However...
He had ultimately only refined two strands of merit.
After barely half an hour, the enhancement receded like the tide, and his cultivation speed returned to its sluggish state.
Even so, Lu Tian was overjoyed!
That half hour of cultivation was worth two months of bitter training in the past.
One had to know that these two strands of merit had not come from perfecting the Vajra Body, but from the feedback of the illusory world.
His cultivation was still shallow, and the Zero World was only partially complete, barely able to function.
If his cultivation improved or the world's completeness increased, the feedback he received would surely become even more abundant.
Unlike the other great powers of the primordial world, he possessed a stable means of acquiring merit!
Even the boundless heaven-opening merit of the Three Pure Ones could not be acquired as continuously and steadily as his.
If he could further make up for the flaws in his foundation and combine that with merit acceleration...
At that thought, Lu Tian unconsciously swallowed.
His desire to search for other spirit mountains grew even stronger.
[Host has arrived at Wushou Mountain Blessed Land. System reward obtained: Cloud-Treading Boots]
The system prompt rang beside his ear.
After three hundred years of flight, Lu Tian had finally reached the first blessed land marked on the map.
This mountain was exceptionally beautiful, full of life amid its lush green bamboo.
Yet its summit was shattered, forming a massive crater.
Scorching lava erupted from within, destroying every beautiful sight in its path.
This was the mountain's most distinctive feature.
Only the areas touched by the flowing lava had been completely destroyed, while every inch of land right beside the lava's edge still grew dense bamboo forests.
When Lu Tian first saw this sight, he was deeply shocked and even suspected that some earthshaking secret was hidden here.
He later learned that the rocks within the mountain had a unique structure. They emitted a biting chill and conducted heat extremely poorly.
No living thing should have survived in such an icy place, yet the scorching lava happened to balance the surrounding temperature, creating the wonder of bamboo forests and lava existing side by side.
The wonders of creation in the primordial world truly surpassed imagination.
Unfortunately, these strange rocks held no value for Lu Tian and were not worth the effort of mining.
He casually took out the system reward—
A pair of snow-white boots embroidered with cloud patterns.
With a thought, the boots were already on his feet.
The boots were light as feathers, yet they were undeniably a Mid-grade Innate Spiritual Treasure containing twenty restrictions. Not only could they greatly increase evasion speed, they could also help their wearer merge into space and travel through it.
The cloud patterns on the boots formed an array of their own. Once activated, they could cross a hundred and eight thousand li in an instant, rivaling the Great Sage Equal to Heaven's Somersault Cloud.
They also allowed one to tread through the air without falling, cross water without getting wet, and enter fire without being burned. Even in water, flames, or deep underground, one could walk as though on level ground.
Though they were not as heaven-defying as the Saint-level comprehension and Virtual-Real World he had obtained on the previous two occasions, Lu Tian was still quite satisfied.
After all, how rare had those first two opportunities been—
One was the Western First Blessed Land, the location of the Western Teachings' sacred ground!
The other was the primordial world's illusory realm, the Dream World!
Such top-tier blessed lands were rare even across the primordial world.
As for Wushou Mountain, though it possessed a strange spectacle, it was nothing special. Similar places could be found everywhere in the east.
Lu Tian poured Immortal Power into the Cloud-Treading Boots, and his figure immediately became elusive. In the blink of an eye, he had traveled across the entirety of Wushou Mountain.
The increase in speed was truly astonishing. It had increased eighteenfold, greatly improving his exploration efficiency.
Within a few years, he had thoroughly investigated the entire mountain range, inside and out.
He even moved freely through the magma at the mountain's core with the aid of the Cloud-Treading Boots.
Sure enough, he found nothing.
When Lu Tian stepped out of the magma, his robes were spotless, without even the slightest wrinkle.
These Cloud-Treading Boots truly possessed limitless wondrous uses. Passing through magma, deep water, or spatial gaps had once required vast amounts of Immortal Power, but now it was as easy as breathing.
With the Cloud-Treading Boots beneath his feet, Lu Tian gracefully stepped into a spatial rift, opened a passage, and leisurely continued northwest.
After his speed increased dramatically, Lu Tian reached the second blessed land in only twenty years, despite searching the route with extreme care.
[Host has discovered Xiluo River Blessed Land. System gift obtained: Ice Lotus]
This thousand-li-long winding stream was but a trickle in the vast primordial world. Its riverbed was nearly dry, and even its deepest point was only a hundred thousand zhang deep. Yet because the Earth Vein had ruptured, it was fraught with danger—frequent Earth Vein pressure eruptions and leaking baleful energy could instantly annihilate anyone who touched them.
As Lu Tian traced the river upstream, he discovered that its unusual feature was the vast number of wandering souls gathered there. Tens of thousands of ghosts drifted through every li of water. Since Houtu had not yet established reincarnation, these souls could only survive by drawing nourishment from the river water. A few rogue Ghost Kings at the Heavenly Immortal realm had even been born among them, all of whom Lu Tian killed with a single move.
His true gain was still the system's gift: a six-petaled Ice Lotus. This Mid-grade Innate Spiritual Root grew one petal every sixty years and fully bloomed after six hundred and sixty years. Its lotus seeds could slay inner demons, stabilize one's Dao foundation, and add a thousand years of cultivation. Lu Tian sealed the fully bloomed Ice Lotus away and continued northwest.
The third Phoenix Forest did not live up to its name—before him stood only a forest of parasol trees and surging earthfire. From above, the treetops outlined the shape of a crow, while his Spiritual Sense detected numerous Heavenly Immortals and Golden Immortals entrenched within. The moment Lu Tian set foot in the forest, the system prompt sounded again.
[Host has arrived at the Phoenix Forest secret realm. System gift obtained: Glazed Heart Pearl]
A hoarse voice suddenly rang in Lu Tian's ears.
Junior, state your name and origins!
Hand over all your spiritual treasures and Spirit Stones, and I may accept you as my servant.
Otherwise—
A cold laugh tore through the air, and Lu Tian narrowed his eyes toward its source.
Black feathers churned as an eighty-zhang demon body blotted out the sky.
A mere crow demon dared call himself Taiyi?
Lu Tian's fingers brushed the hilt of the sword at his waist, startling the crow demon until its wings bristled.
You're courting death!
Waves of crimson and black fire shot into the sky as the onlookers' Spiritual Senses intertwined into a net.
A newly advanced Golden Immortal dared provoke Crow Daoist?
Those Cloud-Treading Boots were quite extraordinary...
Before the whispers could fade, a streak of azure light suddenly split the scorching sky.
High in the heavens, Crow Daoist let out a piercing screech. His claws abruptly turned crimson gold, carrying blazing flames as they lunged straight at Lu Tian!
Not bad. This move has some merit.
Lu Tian commented leisurely.
Arrogant fool! Die!
The gleam in Crow Daoist's eyes surged. Before his words had faded, he flashed before Lu Tian, his sharp claws reaching directly for Lu Tian's crown!
As the claw wind swept past, Lu Tian's skull shattered with a crack!
Just as Crow Daoist's lips curled into a savage grin, the Lu Tian before him dissipated like smoke—it had only been an afterimage!
Space suddenly split apart, and Lu Tian's figure materialized behind him.
Without warning, he instantly transformed into a hundred-zhang Vajra Dharma Form, towering between heaven and earth!
Most soul-stirring of all was the Dao Charm divine scepter clenched in that Vajra's hand, its pressure surging like a tide!
Vajra Scepter!
The instant Crow Daoist sensed the Vajra Dharma Form, his entire body trembled violently!
In panic, he spat out a stream of his natal true fire!
Lu Tian neither dodged nor retreated as the divine scepter crashed down!
Pff—
Crow Daoist coughed up blood wildly, and a mist of blood filled the sky!
His body smashed into the ground like a falling meteor, kicking up a thousand-zhang dust storm!
The entire Phoenix Forest fell deathly silent.
As though no one was there.
Lu Tian lifted the barely living Crow Daoist, whose divine fire now flickered like a candle in the wind.
His spine had been shattered inch by inch, and his crow body had shriveled like torn leather.
More pathetic than expected.
Lu Tian sighed softly.
Perhaps he was simply too strong—the Vajra Dharma Form, Vajra Scepter, and Cloud-Treading Boots, with all three treasures upon him, how could an ordinary Golden Immortal withstand even one blow?
This Crow Daoist had merely been a frog at the bottom of a well in Phoenix Forest.
Invincible among Golden Immortals?
Ridiculous.
A petty upstart, nothing more.
Lu Tian casually flung him away.
Boom—
Crow Daoist's broken body crashed into a cave abode, and the Great Nirvana Art hidden within him erupted!
When the smoke and dust cleared, nothing remained but emptiness.
The unlucky fellow who had shouted the loudest had gone to the underworld together with Crow Daoist.
As the Vajra Dharma Form faded, cheers like rolling mountains and crashing seas erupted throughout Phoenix Forest:
Welcome, Dao Venerable, for purging the evil demons! We beg the Dao Venerable to take command of Phoenix Forest!
Daoist, Crow Daoist committed countless evils in his daily life. He forcibly seized our magical artifacts for his own cultivation. Thank you, Daoist, for upholding justice for us!
Heavens! Crow Daoist is dead, truly dead!
The sudden cheers left Lu Tian somewhat stunned.
Anyone unaware of the truth might have thought he was some immortal sovereign descended upon the world, shaking the universe with his might.
He casually stopped someone to ask, only then understanding the reason.
It turned out that Phoenix Forest was a rare place in the western region where spiritual veins converged.
Many cultivators unable to gain a foothold in the east had fled here to settle and cultivate.
Crow Daoist was one of the foremost among them.
With his fire-controlling arts, he had forced everyone to bow their heads.
When someone had claimed earlier that he was invincible among Golden Immortals, it had not been much of an exaggeration. The other Golden Immortals in the forest truly had not been his match.
He had also gathered several Golden Immortal cultivators under his command, becoming the tyrant of Phoenix Forest. New cultivators had to offer treasures before they could cultivate here.
Lu Tian had merely taken the path everyone had to pass through today.
It was only because he was overwhelmingly strong that he directly killed Crow Daoist.
Lu Tian shook his head, having little interest in such trivial matters.
The pattern of the west had already been decided. These were merely petty squabbles.
The truly powerful figures were all in the east!
That was where the heroes fought for supremacy!
Countless great powers displayed their divine abilities there. Quasi-Saints were as numerous as stars, Great Luo were everywhere, and Taiyi were not worth mentioning!
The Witch-Demon War swept across all races. The deaths of Great Luo and Quasi-Saints were common sights.
As for Golden Immortals...
They were nothing but ants!
He would eventually have to go east. Cultivating in seclusion in the west would ultimately leave him no choice but to become a petty mountain king.
Before you continue